Portable lighter



1929. s. BETTINI 1,740,568

ORTABLE LIGHTER Filed Oct. 1. 1927 W- Y 'gl Q;

5 INVENTOR- ATTORNEY lfatented Dec. v24, 1929 vPfrula'r OFFICE GIANNI BETTINI, or New Yoan, N. Y.

PORTABLE LIGHTER application mea october 1, 1927. serial No. 223,304.

This invention relates to portable lighters,

and with respect to its vmore specific fea-- operation and in which but one manipulative operation is-required to effect ignition;

' in which the chance of leakage of fuel and consequent contamination of the person is minimized, and in which yadjustment of the sparking apparatus, especially of the sparking particle, is facilitated..

Other ob]ects of the invention will be in part obvious and will in part appear hereinaftenf The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction herein-v after set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims. For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should v be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which y I Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention.

.' Fig. 2 is a plan view looking at the top of the lighter. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig.' 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the lighter, partly in section to ,show Y details. v

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but taken from the opposite side of the ighter.

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the upper part of the lightertaken en the line 6-6 of,A Eig. 2. Referring now more specifically to the drawing, thenumeral 1 indicates the frame and mfetalfuel reservoir. The fuel in the reservoir maybe kerosene. Extendinginto the reservoir is the wick 2, which projects through the nipple 3 ofthe toplof the reservoir, the u per end of the wick being dis# posed to be ghted from sparks produced by the top the sparking apparatus. In addition to the kerosene, the reservoir may contain a mass of absorbent cotton or other suitable absorbent material. In the bottom of the reservoir is a filling opening closed by a removable plug 3'. On the side wall of the reservoir a large glas mirror 4 may be placed. One end of the reservoir may have an opening 5 communieating with a lip stick receptacle 6 sealed from the fuel content of the reservoir, and o0 adapted to, be. closed by a cap 7.

The sparking apparatusincludesthesparking particle, er member, 8, as for instance a particle of a pyrophoric alloy containing ceium and iron. The sparking apparatus also o5 includes an abrader 10 which, in the embodiment illustrated, is a steel disk or wheel, roughened on its periphery, as by the teeth 11,

for more eiectively abrading,l the sparking particle v8. In the embodiment illustrate the abrader 10 is fixed to the upper end of an abrader shaft 12, which latter is ournaled for rotative movement in the upper end of the reservoir and is encircled by a helical spring 13, one end of which spring is fixed to the shaft 12, the other end being fixed to the frame as, for instance, to the under side of of the frame at 14. As will more fully be explained hereafter, one purpose of the spring 13 is to effect rotat1on of the abrade0 er 10 in contact with the sparking particle 8 so as to produce sparks, the rotation being in a direction so that the sparks will be projected toward the upper end of the wick 2 so as to ignite the wick. In this wise the S5 spring 13 serves as a motor and expends energy to effect relative movement in one direction between the members 8 and 10 to produce sparking. v

lThe numeral 15 indicates a lever fixed "to oo the operating member, or abrader, 10, and

which is manually operable to rotate the shaft 12 in the direction to wind u the spring 13, and thereby potentialize the atter so that its reactive eiect shall compel spark-effecting.

rotation of the abrader 10 as just explained.

In the present embodimentthe spring 13 is always under suicient tension'quite strongly toretract the lever 15 until itis arrested as,

forinstance, by contact with some fixed porwo n tion of the lighter, said understood.

The numeral 17 indicates the wick cover, which ma be a cup or thimble-like member into whic the upper end of the wick may enter when the'cover is in closed position, as

f illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, and the mouth of the thimble may closely contact with the upper face of the nipple- 3, so as completely to enclose the upper end of the wick, thus minimizing e'xuding of fuel through the joint between t-he cover and nipple; also it will be understood that' the cover extinguishes the llame of the wick.

For moving the'wick cover to o en position, illustrated in the dottedline in Fig. 4,

a` cover opening device is provided. In the present embodiment the cover opening devicey includes a cover supportin arm 18, pivoted for oscillatable movement in an u standing bearing 19 by being fixed to a rotative pin 20 passing through said bearing. The numeral 21 indicates a spring disposed in a-chamber,

-ortube 22,di;pending from the top member or plate 23, o the reservoir, the lower end o the chamber being closed and supporting one end-of the spring 21. Projecting through a small opening l'in the latel 23 is 'a covering .actuating pin 24, the ase of which rests on the top of the spring 21' 'and -is enlarged-to limit the u ward movement of the pin 24.

the cover toward open i vtrated in Fig. 4, the hub'has a flat face 27' The pin 24 is disposed to coact with the cover supporting arm "to one side of.the,pivotal axis of'said arm. A In. the present embodiment the-arm 18 has a depending lug, or hub 26, against which vsaid pin is adapted to contact so ,as to urge sition'. As illuswhich, when the-cover is vin open position,

rests against the top 23 and limits opening movement of the cover. From the fiat face 27 .the hub continues in ,a gradual curve'or cam-like face to another .iattened portion of the hub indicated at 28 to one side ofthe pivotal axis, the pin 24being adapted to contactv the latterfaceto one side of the pivotal axis: wheinthe cover -17 is closed. When the hub 26'moves in a direction to'close the cover,

the cam-like face effects' adual compression of the spring 21 by the pin 24' downwardly, the spring 21 being relatively strongly compressed when the cover is closed. t

movement will illustratedin `Fi vwith the abrader 10 a he ical -hea `right (Fig.r.3) Will 4 be seen therefore-that," whe'iijthe'v cover moved by the shaft 33 nut to its position and shaft ofthe nut latch the wick cover in closed position. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the latchin mechanism includes a latch member 29 fixes to oscillate ,I with the pin 20 and being pivotally movable with the cover through lits connection with the'cover arm 18. When the wick cover is. f closed, the latch arm, 29 is in theposition 5' with its upper ed e30 adaptedto lie un erneath the lever 15. hen the wick coverl 17 is in closed position, 4re-/fg traction of the lever 15`by the s rin 13 to' the full line position illustratedp in ig.` 2 causes said lever 12 to be positioned i 'ediately above latch member 29, so that he lever 15 cooperates with the member 29 to 80 latch said cover in closed position, the lever 15 thus also actin as a latch member' and preventing 4pivota movement of the latch member 29 4in cover opening direction under the iniluence of the' spring actuated cover g5 opening device. v v The sparking particle 8 comprises a small cylindrical piece of p rophoric alloy disposed in the channel 16, which channelconsists of a tube fixed to the upstanding portion 19 of 90 the to of the reservoir. For pressing the partie e. Sinto sparkin position in contact ring 3L is disposed in the channel 16 behin said article. At the opposite end of the channel m the va .particle 8 is the nut 32 having screw threaded en agement withthe inner wall of the chan'- nef 16, (Fig. 3) rotation of said nut being -v ladapted to compress the spring 31 and more' provided witha knurled head 34 by which it 11o' ma be conveniently and effectively gripped an actuated. In the position'illustrated in Fi l3 the head 34 of the shaft 33 is close to the urled flange 35 of the nut 3,2.- By

34,'v the shaft 33 may be dotted line position .indicated'in Fi 3 3, and in this extended position rotation o the shaft 33," and' con uently' lof the n utl 32 'is very convenient y accomplished, thusez lao ing adjustment of the tension of the spriig 31. After the spring- 31 has been soa justed, the head 34 may bepmihedto the Y as'to. be out of the way.

Furthermore,'it' will be. noted that whenA 185 particle 8 is to be replaced by mother .par-

-'be convenientl re- .im s.;

ticle, the nut-32 may in the 115 drawlii 1% the p the spring 31 ma with the shaft and nut introduced into the nel 16. Bythenimoving shaft 33 so as to projectfrom the opposite side of the nut, y le shifted thereover and bore of the channel and turned into place.

When the lighter is not being used it may be conveniently carried in the pocket, and at such time the wick cover will be in closed position and the lever 15 will be in retracted position close alongside the channel 16, in which position the lever will be held by the spring.: 13, with its free end conveniently accessible for contact and` actuation by the finger of the o erator, whether the cover be open or closed Also under such -circumstances, the wick cover will be held closed by the lever 15,l acting as a latch member,v andcoactirig to prevent cover opening movement of the latch member 29. The lighter may conveniently be held and actuated by one hand. While so holding the lighter, the end of the lever 15 may be pressed toward the dotted line position (Fig. 2) -by the thumb or finger of theoperator, and such movement of the lever 1'5, will unlatch the latching mechanism, the lever 15 disengaging from the latch member 29 shortly after the movement of the lever 1 5is started. Thus the cover will be freed for opening and the cover opening mechanism will automatically rotate the arm 18 andthe cover carried thereby to'open position. Outward movement of -the manually operated lever 15 will also potentialize the spring" 13 .to a suliicient degree, whereupon t e finger is removed, permitting said lever to ily back under the influence of saidspring 13, and with the result that the abrader '10 will be given a quick rotative abrading movement-by .the spring 13. In consequence Aof the quick movement, the sparking apparatus 4 will b actuated, sparking will result, and the sparks will be projected toward the now open .wick,`l`which. latter will be ignited. It will be noted that repeated manual operation of thelever 15 is possible at the will of the operator, whilethe wick cover is in open position and without moving-said cover to closed position: It'will, furthermore, be noted that when the latch member 29 is moved by the coveropening mechanism, said member 29 is moved to a lposition between the manually operable lever 15 and the channel 16, so that spring retracted movement of the lever 15 arrested by the latch member 29, and that further movement of the lever 15 will be required before it reaches latching position. i By applying the thumb to the cover 15 or the' arm 18, the cover may be closed at will, whergupon the spring 13 will effect further movement of the latch lever 1o and to cover latching position cooperating with the latch member 29, which latter will then be held in position to retain the cover closed. In this wise, once the cover is latched` closed, relative movement between the abrader and the ocket there is practically no chance of acci ental spark actuation of the lighter.-

Furthermore, the coverv will positively be latched in closed position, thus protecting the person from contamination by the liquid fuel employed. It will be seen that the spring actuated sparkin hghter is engendered y a preliminary, or partial manipulation ofthe' ever 15,. the one following the other-in the operation of effecting sparking, so that movement of the finger of the operator is simple and need not be uick.

aving described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is;

l. A lighter of the character described, including, in combination, sparking apparatus including a sparking member and an abrader actuation of the# adapted for relative movement therebetween r to produce sparking, a spring adapted to ex pend energy to effect relative movement be-v tween said sparking member and abrader to produce sparking, a wick cover adapted to` open and close, and means, including two members one of which is driven by said spring,

adapted to cooperate with each other to latch j cluding, in combination, a' sparking apparatus including a sparking member and an abrader adapted for relative movement therebetween to produce sparking,a wick cover adapted to open and close, cover latching mechanism including a latch lever, a spring for moving said, lever to latching position, means whereby movement of said lever from latching position isi ada ted to wind up said spring and means where y said relativeV movementis adapted tobe effected by expenditure of energy of said spring. 4

3. A lighter of the character described including, in combination, a sparking ap- -paratus including a sparking member andan abrader adapted for relative movement therebetweena to produce sparking, a wick cover adapted to open and close, cover latchig mechanism including a latch lever,a spring -for moving said'lever to latching'position, 1

means whereby movement of said lever from latching position is adapted to wind up said spring, means 'whereby said relative move-- ment is adapted to be effected by expenditure of energy of said spring, and a spring actuated cover opening device.

4. In a lighter 'of the character described, in combination, an oscillatable wick cover, a

cover actuating means, cover latching mech-i' anism, asparking apparatus including a p f movable operatingmember spring actuated to effect sparking, and means whereby, when .l the cover` is latched closed', actuation of said A5 operating `member unlatches said latching" mechanism.- i` s 5. In a lighter of the character described,

in combination, an o'scillatable wick cover, a g cover actuatnglmeans, cover latching mech- 10 anism, a sparking'apparatus including a movlable operating member spring actuated to effeet sparking, means whereby, when the cover is latched closed, actuation of said operating. member unlatehes said latching mechanism, 15 said cover,.;actl1ating meanscomprising a vpivoted cover. arm, and a spring actuated pin adapted to urge said cover toward open' pos'i, tion, said in coactin with said cover arm to l zo In testimony'whereof I ax m signature.y

-B TTINI.' v 

